On June 26th in a five to four vote the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional. We at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin, along with the GBLTQ community across the country, celebrate this long awaited decision on equity and justice. Sadly it was not a unanimous decision but it was decisive. In addition, the onerous job of working to dismantle Proposition 8 has ended. The doors are once again open for all couples regardless of sexual identity who love one another and wish to make a commitment of marriage to do so and receive the same benefits as any married couple in the state of California. As a Welcoming Congregation we at the UUCM share in the joy this decision brings to so many. As a Unitarian Universalist minister I have married many same sex couples in my twenty years of ministry and am excited to officiate at many more same sex marriages here at the UUCM.

Yet as we celebrate this victory let us not lose sight of the great loss we have been given by this same Supreme Court this week. Once again in a five to four vote, the court struck down the Voters Rights Act. This is a deadly blow to equality and an open door to re-establish the discrimination and bigotry we worked so hard to shift since the Civil Rights movements of the nineteen fifties and sixties. One fight over and a new one laid in our laps. So let us celebrate, but also remember that our efforts in moving ethical and honest change forward while sustaining equity and justice must not stop.